The Mute Who Is Loathed by Everyone Has the School Heartthrob as His Childhood Sweetheart. - Chapter 4

No. 6 Middle School was famous for its academic standards, placing immense importance on results, and even greater importance on awards and punishments.

When the results of the first monthly exam were released, Zhou Ai’s photo was posted in the most conspicuous spot between the two teaching buildings, beneath which were his nearly perfect scores.

He naturally became famous throughout the grade, becoming the subject of everyone’s discussion. There were even students from other classes who would deliberately walk past Class 1 just to see him in person. He even received love letters from the opposite sex, though the way he received them was rather unusual.

During the break on Wednesday morning, he was called to the office. On Mr. Qin’s desk, he saw two folded, pale green letters.

Mr. Qin clasped his hands together and spoke obliquely while looking at him: “Zhou Ai, from the moment your parents brought you here at the start of the term, the first time I saw you, I knew you were a good student who wouldn’t require much effort from the teachers.”

Perhaps due to Zhou Ai’s special circumstances, Mr. Qin even shed his usual sternness, his words carrying a heartfelt gentleness: “Zhou Ai, you must understand what should and shouldn’t be done at any given time. You are still young, and there are infinite possibilities for your future. The teachers don’t want these… irrelevant matters to influence you. We all have high expectations for you.”

He returned the letters to Zhou Ai. Seeing Zhou Ai nod slightly with an impassive expression, he said with relief: “You are a good child. I don’t need to say more, do I? The teacher trusts you. Go back to class.”

The letters in Zhou Ai’s hand were thick, the paper smooth the mark of a very delicate girl’s intentions. But as a love letter, the most jarring thing was that these letters didn’t even have envelopes.

Zhou Ai did not unfold the letters, nor did he look at them. However, when he returned to the classroom, he was passively made aware of their contents.

Hu Cheng, who always sang in harmony with Jiang Wenyi in class, was sitting on his desk holding a photocopy of the letters, exaggeratedly reciting the contents to the whole class: “Classmate Zhou Ai, hello. I won’t lie to you; I struggled with blank paper for two whole nights before I dared to muster the courage to write…”

“‘To me, you are like a cloud in the sky clean, hanging high, and forever beyond my reach…’ Hahahaha! Looks like our ‘Mute Princess’ can have another nickname. How about ‘Brother Cloud’? Or ‘Brother White Cloud’? Damn, I’m dying of laughter.”

“‘…For this first letter, I want to be as honest as possible with you. I know about your special situation, and my first reaction when I heard about it was sadness. But after I knew, when I looked at your photo, I knew that these things that make others sigh and lament perhaps wouldn’t be able to stump you…’ What kind of nonsense is this? Next paragraph, next paragraph…”

“‘Actually, I am a very talkative person. If we have the chance to get to know each other, or even become friends, I might not be able to control myself from saying many, many things to you. I feel that communication between people isn’t purely dependent on talking…’ Hey, Zhou Ai, you’re back? You’re just in time. This love letter is so well-written; I was moved by it.” Hu Cheng grinned as he looked toward the classroom’s front door.

Zhou Ai stood at the doorway. There was unrestrained laughter in the class, and the gazes of many people converged on him instantly.

No one had expected Zhou Ai’s excellent results, but this did not make the students of Class 1 feel at ease, let alone willing to accept him. Jealousy was a common sickness, especially when the one who grabbed first place, occupied the honor roll, and received the favor of various subject teachers was Zhou Ai—the same gloomy, mute outcast that their Class 1 collectively excluded.

The sunlight at the doorway shifted, and Zhou Ai’s figure was gradually swallowed by shadow.

Hu Cheng smiled maliciously: “I haven’t finished reading yet, hey! Little mute, this is a good thing! Someone has taken a fancy to you and handed you a love letter. Let me see the signature let’s see who is so bold as to take a fancy to our glorious top student. Oh, it’s Song from Class 5 of the first grade—”

He couldn’t finish his sentence because Zhou Ai’s right hand had clamped tightly onto his throat. Zhou Ai exerted so much force that he pinned him dead against the desk.

For a long time, in the eyes of everyone in Class 1, Zhou Ai had been aloof but weak.

He was thin, always sitting silently in the corner, hiding in the shadows of others. He turned a blind eye to the enthusiasm of outsiders, but he never showed any resistance to their repeated mockery and large-scale isolation.

Everyone had tacitly assumed that Zhou Ai was a mute who could be bullied at will.

Therefore, even when Zhou Ai walked calmly from the front door to Hu Cheng’s seat under the gazes of everyone, no one had guessed his next move.

He didn’t even pause in front of Hu Cheng’s seat. He attacked cleanly, using only his right hand to pinch Hu Cheng’s neck and press him heavily onto the desktop. Hu Cheng was the class sports representative, tall and sturdy, but he actually couldn’t pry open Zhou Ai’s pale hand.

Before acting, Zhou Ai had even specifically found an angle, facing his back to the surveillance camera in the front of the classroom, blocking the movement of his hand underneath.

The people around let out screams, tables and chairs clattered, and Hu Cheng was held tightly by Zhou Ai with one hand. Hu Cheng’s state quickly became abnormal: his veins bulged, terrifying blue-purple spots appeared on his face, his mouth was wide open, and his eyes rolled back. Many people rushed over to pull Zhou Ai’s hand away.

But Zhou Ai’s strength was greater than they had ever anticipated. The school uniform sleeves were too slippery, and they couldn’t pull his hand away for a moment.

Unlike other vicious incidents that had occurred on campus, Zhou Ai had no intention of fighting or struggling with others at all. He had gone straight for the throat of his opponent, and he truly wanted this person to die.

Zhou Ai kept his head slightly lowered the whole time, his expression calm, merely watching the ugly struggling of Hu Cheng beneath his hand. At a certain moment, Hu Cheng was near death, and those black eyes in front of him were like a whirlpool, dragging him uncontrollably toward the abyss.

There were many voices around, all loudly telling Zhou Ai to calm down and let go.

Finally, a girl cried out and screamed from the side: “Zhou Ai, you’re really going to choke him to death! Where is the class monitor? If you can’t find the class monitor, go find Teacher Qin! This is such a big mess, it can’t be hidden! Zhou Ai has gone crazy!”

Zhou Ai was unusually calm. At that very moment, he relaxed his effort and had his right hand pulled away by others.

Red pinch marks appeared on Hu Cheng’s neck. He sat up from the desk quickly and let out an earth-shattering choke. Many people rushed to separate Zhou Ai and Hu Cheng. Zhou Ai bent down to pick up the photocopy of the love letter that had fallen to the floor and prepared to leave the classroom.

Before he left, a classmate tried to block him slightly: “Zhou Ai, you… where are you going?”

Zhou Ai turned his head to look. His expression was still wave-less, completely unable to tell that a second ago he had almost ended someone’s life.

That classmate was swept by his gaze and couldn’t help but step back: “You… what else do you want to do?”

Zhou Ai paused for half a second in place, as if thinking of something, and suddenly pulled out several red banknotes from his pocket and gave them to the person in front of him before leaving the classroom directly.

The person gripped the money for a long time before reacting and handing the stack of money to Hu Cheng, who was still coughing: “This, this should be the medical expenses from Xiao Ya… Zhou Ai.”

Hu Cheng still had physiological tears on his face after the stimulation. He looked at the money and sneered, his voice hoarse: “I… I will definitely kill him.”

Zhou Ai went straight into the restroom to wash his hands. The body temperature and body fluids of another person sticking to his hands made him feel very disgusted.

Cold water kept flushing the palms of his hands until the temperature of his hands was washed away and they became completely ice-cold. Zhou Ai looked at his own palms. Just now, Hu Cheng’s blood had passed through his skin, hitting his palms rapidly and manicly, trying to gain vitality from his hands. That feeling still lingered.

This was a tactile memory that couldn’t be washed away by cold water.

Zhou Ai looked at the mirror and slowly clamped this hand onto his own throat. The palm was piercingly cold, and the reaction under the skin was even more intense. Zhou Ai only looked at his own eyes in the mirror and exerted force slowly.

Until the deafening bell rang above his head, Zhou Ai recovered his five senses in an instant. After taking a deep breath, he released his hand. He braced himself on the washbasin and panted, hearing the class monitor outside urging everyone to go to the playground it was physical education next.

Halfway through the PE class, during free activity, Zhou Ai climbed over the wall to the back hill. He had been here once in the morning. He didn’t bring food this time, but the cats and dogs sensed the movement and still swarmed over to rub against his legs.

Zhou Ai just wanted to find a quiet place to smoke a cigarette. The smoke inhaled into his lungs could briefly paralyze his upper limbs and even his entire brain. He liked this feeling.

Zhou Ai sometimes wondered why he couldn’t really become a marionette a puppet without thoughts or emotions. That would be a happy ending for everyone.

The back hill was backed by the school’s basketball court. It was the best time of the morning, and the whistle sounds and screaming cheers in the court continued.

This wall that separated them was like dividing two dimensions; over there was noise and clamor, and here was deathly silence.

Zhou Ai leaned against the wall, sitting in the shadow cast by the wall, watching the smoke rise slowly from his fingertips.

The brick wall was thin, so the clamor from across the wall could clearly reach his ears.

“So fierce today, Xun-ge!” A boy’s voice said with a laugh.

Zhou Ai lowered his eyelids, a mouthful of smoke caught in his mouth, not exhaled for a long time. His brow jumped; why would it be such a coincidence?

The male voice that followed immediately confirmed this coincidence: “Get lost, don’t touch me.”

There was a clear gasp in Chen Xunfeng’s voice, as if he had just come off the court, and he was indifferent and distracted.

Zhou Ai suddenly remembered Chen Xunfeng as a child. At that time, because of frequent fights, Chen Xunfeng’s face was always covered in injuries. He would stare at him every day with a scarred face, clutching his wrist tightly, and saying many, many things to him.

At that time, many people felt they were strange. One was like an oil field, ready to explode at the slightest touch, fighting fiercely even the teachers couldn’t pull apart, and the other was like a pool of dead water, unable to squeeze out a word or give any reaction.

“What did you say?” Chen Xunfeng’s voice had a unique cold feeling, which Zhou Ai could always capture. He frowned and prepared to get up and leave this place.

Zhou Ai extinguished his cigarette and heard a hesitant male voice from further away: “…I said, what’s the use of looking good and having good grades… still a mute… ah!”

The hoarse scream in the boy’s trailing voice was covered up by a loud noise. Zhou Ai’s heart missed a beat. The basketball soared high, and its elasticity caused it to slam heavily into the ground again.

Zhou Ai heard Jiang Chuan’s crumbling voice: “Damn, Xun-ge, don’t be impulsive, don’t be impulsive. You just hit that someone-or-other, and you’re still in the observation period! You can’t hit anyone now! So many people are watching!”

The sound of the basketball hitting the ground disappeared, as if it had suddenly been picked up by someone. Chen Xunfeng’s voice was very far away. Zhou Ai could vaguely distinguish that the last sentence he said was: “Keep your foul mouth shut.”